The Harold & Kumar comic and one-time White House staffer enters the twisted world of global finance in his new docucomedy – and ends up learning to smuggle diamonds under his scrotumThere aren’t many people who can count “working in the White House” and “having sex with a bag of weed” among their career highlights, but Kal Penn’s path hasn’t exactly been routine. The 41-year-old found fame in the stoner film series Harold & Kumar (where hi

Director says he left 007 movie project rather than replace screenwriter after disagreement with producersDanny Boyle has confirmed that a dispute over the script was the reason he left the latest James Bond movie.In a reply to a reader question in Empire magazine, Boyle said that the screenplay he had been working on with regular writing partner John Hodge had not found favour with producers, and that he quit the project rather than jettison that script and work with another writer. Related: Re

Duwayne Brooks, who was with Lawrence when he was murdered, probes the family – and the perpetrators. Plus: Ryan Murphy’s dazzling new show, Pose. Here’s all the best TV to tune in forA painfully personal take on Britain’s current wave of knife crime from Duwayne Brooks, who was with Stephen Lawrence when he was murdered by racists in 1993. In this documentary, Brooks meets the families and friends of victims and also engages with perpetrators as he attempts to understand

Suspects and police officers with shared secrets? Check. Information wilfully withheld by the writer? Check. Will you be hooked? CheckThe Bay (ITV) is Broadchurch in Morecambe. I would even bet half my David Tennant memorabilia collection that was the makers’ pitch in its entirety. Why not? It’s perfect. I would have bought it as a commissioner, and as a viewer I was entirely sold.We open with mother of teens – and party girl – Lisa (Morven Christie) being collected by he

Stars of the popular comedy make announcement on Youtube that Bill & Ted Face the Music is going into production this summerThe long-mooted third Bill and Ted movie is set to go into production this year with a projected release date of summer 2020, it has been announced.Actors Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves – aka William “Bill” S Preston Esq and Theodore “Ted” Logan – broke the news in a short promotional video filmed at the Hollywood Bowl. Thanking “

She has tackled injustice and abuse in the film industry and the Catholic church. The Oscar-nominated director reveals why she is telling the shocking story hit podcast Serial failed to coverThe Maryland court of appeals this month overturned adecision to grant Adnan Syed a new trial for the murder of his former girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. The story of Syed’s conviction in 2000 was brought to the world’s attention by the podcast Serial, which launched in October 2014. Its presenter Sara

There’ll be a gun-toting assassin, an enormous screaming pink Demogorgony buffalo – and our beloved gang in the clutches of puberty. Prepare to be scared witless on 4 JulyWe’ve been waiting for the third series of Stranger Things since October 2017 – and we still won’t get to see it until July – but now at least we have something to tide us over. A trailer for Stranger Things 3 has just dropped with all the weight of a neutron bomb. Netflix will do everything

Hardcore pornography is just two clicks away for today’s children – so who better to rewrite the rules of sex on screen than their mums?Of course I thought I was going to be watching porn starring mums. It’s the punchline that’s been adorning student T-shirts for decades: Support Single Mothers … Watch Porn! Arf arf.Only, in this case, we’re not doing that. Instead, we’re following a group of five disparate women try to make a porn film they’d be

The director’s new film stars Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate, Leonardo DiCaprio as a former western TV star and Brad Pitt as his stunt doubleOn 21 May it will be 25 years since Pulp Fiction premiered at the Cannes film festival, before winning the Palme d’Or. And reports have emerged that the same date this year is likely to mark the first screening of Tarantino’s latest film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.The film is one of the near-certainties for this year’s festival, pa

The acquisition of Rupert Murdoch’s film and TV studio business will boost Disney as it enters the TV streaming marketDisney has closed its $71bn (£54bn) acquisition of Rupert Murdoch’s entertainment business in a deal that unites franchises including Cinderella, The Simpsons and Star Wars under one corporate roof to create a media behemoth of unprecedented scale.The Walt Disney Company closed its acquisition of 21st Century Fox shortly after midnight New York time on Wednesday

Morven Christie plays a conflicted cop investigating the disappearance of twins in ITV drama The Bay. Plus: Billions is back. Here’s all the best TV to tune in forFollowing a seemingly innocuous but, in reality, very significant start, the writer Daragh Carville has delivered a quality six-part drama. Morven Christie is a police officer becoming a little too emotionally involved with a case (to the point where she might compromise it) concerning a pair of missing Morecambe twins to whose d

MPs say ‘fundamental mistakes’ led to new set being late and over budgetThe BBC’s attempt to build a new Albert Square for the filming of EastEnders has been heavily criticised by a group of MPs, who have concluded that the enormous £87m cost of the project ain’t worth it.The project to build an entire new stage set for the flagship soap opera is now running £27m over budget and is not due to be completed until May 2023, nearly five years later than originally

A masterful edition of Storyville exposed the awful plight of the moderators tasked with purging tech platforms of violent and sexually abusive imagesOne woman wanted to quit her job as a moderator for an unnamed tech company during training, after hearing descriptions of the content and images she was likely to see. Once she had started, she came across pictures of a six‑year-old girl having terrible things done to her and asked to leave. Her manager told her this was what she had signed

Patricia Arquette and Joey King give strong performances in an uncomfortable new series about a horrifying case of Munchausen syndrome by proxyAt the conclusion of the first episode of The Act, Gypsy Rose Blanchard (Joey King) sits up in bed next to her mother, Dee Dee (Patricia Arquette). She slides her feet out from under the covers and skims the floor with her toes, which crack under her weight. Then she stands up and, without waking her mother, walks to the kitchen for a midnight snack. Rela

Kate Winslet picture about renowned fossil hunter had been criticised by relatives for ‘unconfirmed’ portrait of her sexualityThe director of a new biopic about the celebrated fossil hunter Mary Anning has defended his film after criticism of its lesbian romance storyline.Ammonite, which stars Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan, recently began filming in Lyme Regis, the coastal town in Dorset where Anning lived in the early 19th century. Anning never married and is not known to have had

Lace-up shoes and sixth-former clothes wouldn’t normally scream great style, but the leading woman – and her fabulously dressed supporting cast – in the BBC sitcom are just as fashionable as they are funnyFor all its gleeful bad taste, Fleabag has become ridiculously chic. The second series opened with Phoebe Waller-Bridge in the ladies’ loo of a smart, Ivy-ish London restaurant, wearing a truly excellent black evening jumpsuit. Clean-lined and long-legged with the kind o

Brie Larson vehicle overtakes lifetime total of many Marvel films, while Britcom Fisherman’s Friends sails into second placeCaptain Marvel may have dropped by 48% from its UK opening salvo, but a haul of £6.64m represents the second biggest weekend takings of the year so far, beaten only by its debut session of £12.75m. Captain Marvel’s total after 10 days is a spiffy £23.7m. Continue reading...

Disney’s stage show, directed by Michael Grandage, has been running on Broadway for a year An invasion of tiny Elsas – and a few Annas – will hit London in autumn 2020, as the stage musical of Disney’s hit film Frozen has been confirmed for the West End.The show, which features 12 new songs, has been running on Broadway for a year and was nominated for three Tony awards. It will now reopen Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane, a grade I listed Regency buil